Alumni Entrepreneurship Initiative Offering Student Scholarship
Young entrepreneurs at Georgia Tech have a new opportunity to get resources for their ideas through an alumni-launched venture called The Black Burdell.
The Black Burdell was founded last year by Georgia Tech students and graduates to provide resources for young African-American entrepreneurs. The organization, which aims to be “changing the face of entrepreneurship,” is now accepting applications for its first scholarship from students attending either Georgia Tech or Georgia State University.
“We’re encouraging people who think they have ideas to go for it,” said Henderson Johnson II, a fourth-year aerospace engineering major and one of the founders of The Black Burdell.
The Black Burdell’s Cultivating Entrepreneurs Scholarship is open to any undergraduate or graduate student who is of black, African, or African-American descent and has a 2.75 or higher GPA. Submission requires a business plan and a video pitch of the business idea. The recipient must use the $1,000 award for their business venture or for academic purposes. The deadline is Friday, March 25.
Johnson along with Tech alumni Brandon Miller and Darren Sanders officially launched The Black Burdell — named for Tech’s most famous alumnus — in September 2015. They hope to educate more students about entrepreneurship, encourage them to pursue their ideas, and provide resources to help them be successful in their ventures.
The group also hosts periodic events and is working to make connections in the Atlanta business community to help match young business innovators with those who are already successful. The Black Burdell hopes to make the scholarship an annual award.
Ultimately, the goal is to grow the network of African-American entrepreneurs in Atlanta and beyond and build confidence among black student entrepreneurs.
“It’s helpful to see people who look like you doing what you want to be doing,” Johnson said. Johnson is also part of the Denning Technology and Management Program in the Scheller College of Business.
To learn more or apply for the Cultivating Entrepreneurs Scholarship, visit www.theblackburdell.com/scholarship.